Registration fee for real estate transactions in Dubai up to four per cent

The Dubai government is planning to raise the registration fee for real estate transactions to curb excessive speculation in its property market.

According to Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, director general of the government’s Land Department, the fee, charged to property owners, will increase from two per cent to four per cent on October 6. However, warehouses and other industrial property buyers will be excluded from the hike.

“It will affect the quick selling of property and will have a positive impact on the market, as it will limit the flipping of property and protect the market,” he says. “We don’t see a negative impact affecting the transactions.”

Real estate transactions in the emirate total AED162 billion so far this year, according to Butti, which is a rise from AED90bn in the same period last year.

According to the latest report by Knight Frank, a UK-based commercial property consultancy, prime residential rents in Dubai have risen by 15 per cent (measured until June 2013).

In July, the company’s Prime Global Rental Index put Dubai on top of the list of best performing rental markets in the world.

Do you feel this transaction fee hike will successfully curb speculators from ‘flipping’ properties, or does the emirate run the risk of discouraging real, long-term investors?